Family Field Trip

Devin is home for a nice stretch so we decided to visit a museum nearby.

The Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, GA.

We pass this place when drive to Atlanta and I had always wondered what was inside. I decided that a visit was in order!
Yesterday's family field trip proved that this is a rather fun museum.

 Excuse the blurry pictures, but it wasn't until we left that I saw my lens was on the wrong setting for indoors.
At any rate, we were able to see some wonderful dinosaur models. We also got to see real fossils from the era.
There was another exhibit with minerals and gems that the boys especially loved. Those kids love rocks.

There was a model of a mammoth skeleton that I especially liked. It's cool to see how large the things were up close.

There was also an exhibit with old cars and space shuttles. We even saw a display to scale of the Kitty Hawk.

Looking inside a real Mig fighter jet showed us how many switches and gears those jets use! I honestly don't know how pilots fit in such small spaces or learn everything on the jets.

Of course there were some awesome rock specimens outside available for climbing and photo taking too. It gave us some fresh air before going back inside for a planetarium show.

The kid also got to pan for gem stones (pretty rocks) as part of the ticket price. They each came home with a small bag of treasures.

They also came home with shark teeth that they dug from the archeology dig exhibit.

We missed Quinn. She had to work and missed out on the trip. We brought her a gift from the gift shop though.

After the fun day, we stopped at Steak and Shake for dinner, something we rarely do with this large family.

I bought a year pass, so I plan to go back throughout the year. They are building a solar house for display, and they also have an observatory for use on certain nights.

We did take a couple pictures of me and the baby, so we have proof we were there too...and I brought home a shark too as well :-)!!

This was a fun school day and a short break from farm life!

Happy Thursday Ya'll!!

Baby Season

There are seasons in our life. 

Here I am in the midst of baby season once again. It had been 6 years since I had a demanding baby to care for all day.

Here I am holding and rocking and nursing a baby, all while trying to cook and clean and care for a household.

This season makes me slow down.

All of you moms out there know what I mean. 

When you have little babies and toddlers you must put aside some of the projects and some of the goals to an organized house. 

Your priorities turn from a date night out to keeping the laundry from taking over. Your house is messy. Dishes sit in the sink half the day. Furniture stays dusty. Bathrooms are a disaster.

I've been doing this for over 20 years now. There are days and years that are easier than others. Days when I can sew or knit and days when the floors get mopped and picture books get put back on the shelf. Then there are days I can only accomplish a day of fussy baby holding.

Today this new baby turns 3 months old. It has been almost a year since I had a positive pregnancy test.

It has been almost a year when I started praying for this baby. After 2 miscarriages I was certain this one would end tragically too. When I saw those 2 pink lines I prayed he would get here. 

Every. Single. Day.

The morning sickness was almost unbearable, and the fatigue was paralyzing. Hormones and emotions were all over the map. Every single day was a day closer to him being in my arms.

This season in life. It is by far the shortest of seasons and yet the sweetest.

 It's truly a miracle.

Happy Miracle Day!

Mid January Catch Up

A week ago it was below freezing for the high and we had a dusting of snow.

Today it will reach 68 degrees, and I slept with the windows open last night.

Winter in Georgia.

Our elderly weimaraner has pneumonia, thanks to age and extreme temp changes. We called the vet and gave her the appropriate medicines. Today she is acting her normal self again.

Last weeks cold weather required extra hay for the cows, however Devin wasn't here to get hay from the barn. Luckily I had several friends offer to help.

This week Devin gave me a lesson in how to drive the tractor and use the hay spike.

I can add this to my list of things I can now do on my own, and hopefully we will have enough hay to get through winter. The weather looks to be warm over the next 10 days and that will help.

Zeb bought a racing dominos set with his Christmas money. This set has 1000 pieces and I confess we had fun playing with it over several days. Hands on learning!

We cleared the dining table off and let these dominoes stay out. We all took turns building configurations to knock down. I imagine this will be up there with wooden building blocks as a toy that is enjoyed for many, many years.

I've knitted many things but never socks. I have always wanted to learn sock knitting.

I love sock yarns! This year I decided to take an online sock knitting class and Journee is joining me. This will either be a really fun class or a frustrating nightmare.

Stayed tuned for verdict.

I have taken classes before on Craftsy before and enjoyed them. The instructor for this class seems really good too, so I am betting it is a good class.

Today is my day to finally get my house and projects in order. I chuckle at that statement, but I really still feel disorganized and fog brained since having the baby.

Maybe today I will get everything back in order......just maybe. Maybe not.

Happy Saturday Ya'll!

Sami

2017

                        Happy New Year!

Normally I am diving head first into a new year with goals and plans out the wadzoo.

Right now I am hoping for a 3 hour stretch of sleep at night. New babies are needy and demanding and hungry and fickle. So this is my reality at the moment. Don't get me wrong, for I am super happy to have this little angel, but I must dampen my usual enthusiasm for accomplishing lots until he is less needy.

Today the younger kids and I did attend a meeting for a new home school co-op. I decided to enroll them because they honestly do not get out of the house much. When I had just the 3-4 oldest girls I had them in music classes and play groups and art...lots of activities.

I do not wish to be that busy with outside activities, but one day a week is perfect for my young crew.  They are super excited to start too!

We had a huge cold snap over the weekend in which we became snowed in with a little less than a half inch of snow. That's the South for you. It was very cold, though, not above freezing for a few days.

I needed more hay for the cows, but Devin was out of town. Fortunately I had several friend offer to come fetch hay with the tractor. My goal this week is to have Devin show me how to get the hay myself. A HUGE THANK YOU to Larry for helping me out and to all the many people who checked on me to see if I needed help.

I am currently looking at ordering new pullet babies for eggs this summer, and we plan to run at least 2 batches of pastured chickens. I was hoping to have a nice brooder built, but it might be  project for me and the girls to tackle. I just don't feel like having rubbermaid boxes as brooders placed all through my kitchen this year. Time to upgrade.

I have several farm projects to tackle before spring which includes pregnancy checking cattle, finishing orchard/garden area and deciding/buying temporary fencing to move cattle with on property.

But today I am going to hold my needy little earthling and maybe warm up a cup of coffee. Dinner is staying warm in the Instant Pot and the kids are playing downstairs. 

It is a new year, and I hope 2017 is a blessed and prosperous one for everyone!

Blessings,

Sami